Cahoot
 |
|
| Division of Santander UK plc | |
| Industry | Finance and Insurance |
| Founded | June 2000 |
| Headquarters | Coventry, England, United Kingdom |
|
Key people
|
Juan Gomez-Reino, Managing Director |
| Products | Financial Services |
| Website | www |
cahoot is the internet division of Santander UK plc, the British subsidiary of the Santander Group. Cahoot was launched in June 2000, as the internet-based banking brand of Abbey National plc, and by December 2008, it had 750,000 customers. Cahoot is based in Coventry, England.
Cahoot offered interest-free overdrafts and credit cards at launch to its first 25,000 customers, but was beset by technical issues that affected the website.
There have been several instances of security or operational failures with the website. The initial launch of the bank in 2000 resulted in the website crashing. One case in November 2004 was a security scare in which it was revealed that customers' accounts could be accessed without going through security procedures, after an update to the online banking system.
From 15 — 16 October 2008, the secure section of the Cahoot website became unavailable, due, according to Cahoot, to a power outage in Spain. Although the main page of the website operated normally, it proved impossible for customers to log in to access their savings, leaving them unable to access their accounts and carry out transactions. Call centre staff were also unable to carry out any transactions for customers. Customers were able to access their accounts again normally on 17 October 2008.
Prior to the takeover of parent bank Abbey by Santander, Cahoot recovered from its launch and security issues to achieve over 600,000 accounts and a significant share of the unsecured lending market in the United Kingdom. It was consistently rated in Consumers' Association and Guardian surveys in the top three best banks in the United Kingdom, for service and pricing.
Initially led by Tim Murley, the bank was taken over by Tim Sawyer in November 2002, who was later succeeded by John Goddard in September 2005.
Abbey was renamed under its parent's brand in January 2010, although Cahoot and other specialist brands of the bank were retained by Santander. However, bad debt has affected profitability and marketing spend has largely ceased, with most marketing staff being redeployed elsewhere.
Cahoot operates as a division of Santander UK, and shares Santander's banking licence and headquarters. Its business model involves a very small operational staff, with IT services initially in 2003 outsourced to IBM using their "Software on Demand" model.
...
Wikipedia